889. Sabbath's Theater

Sabbath's Theater
Philip Roth
1995
Around 450 pages

Philip Roth was a piece of work, and sounds like an overall unpleasant fellow. And for the sake of my sanity, I've learned to separate the art from the artist, but this nastiness permeates his novels, his themes, and his philosophies. It's not a world you want to stay in for very long.

Mickey Sabbath is an out of work puppeteer, and because he is a Roth protagonist, he does not have a healthy relationship with sexuality. The women in his life are the puppets, get it? 

How many mother obsessed, female hating men do we have to dissect on this blog? Roth is a talented writer, so his prose is always high quality, but I find the stories he tells unbearable (with one exception that we haven't reached yet). 

Another ugly story that you have to shake off after you read. We will definitely never run low on those.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Won the 1995 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.

UP NEXT: The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie

888. The Rings of Saturn

The Rings of Saturn
W.G. Sebald
1995

Around 300 pages

Here comes W.G. Sebald again, which means more pictures! Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of travelogues, but Sebald is usually pretty entertaining.

Our narrator is taking a walking tour of Suffolk, so he describes what he sees through a German lens, and connects his travels to history or art. The title is explained early on in the book's epigram and relates to the theme of the novel. As it is likely that Saturn's rings are composed of fragments of a moon that was too close to the planet, the rings exist as a beautiful, almost mythological graveyard. Which really works for this guy's vibe.

I think a lot of Sebald's individualism is lost in translation. As I understand it, his style is vastly different than other German postwar novelists, as he uses old-fashioned and complicated German phrases, which I never would have guessed based on my version.

Anyway, it's still a good novel. I don't think all the digressions were seamless, but that's kind of true to how traveling works. You start some place and end up somewhere completely different.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Published in English in 1998.

UP NEXT: Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth

887. The Reader

The Reader
Bernhard Schlink
1995
Around 220 pages

The Reader! Could we have stumbled upon a bright-eyed, optimistic story about the joy of reading and the wonders of literature? Nope, that's a different list.

Michael Berg is a fifteen-year-old German boy with hepatitis, who has an affair with 36-year-old Hanna Schmitz, a tram conductor. One day, Hanna disappears without a trace. Six years later, Michael is stunned to see that Hanna is being charged for war crimes as an SS guard.

I understand the criticism that Schlink is compelling readers to sympathize with the perpetrators of the Holocaust. It is a fine line, but I also think we should try to find the humanity in monsters, because if we can't humanize villains, how can you identify the villain within yourself? And I ultimately think Schlink did handle this well, particularly in regards to his ending.

I don't want to reveal too much of the plot here, but I think Hanna's motivations were a little confusing, and somewhat stretched the limits of plausibility in service to the central metaphor of the story. But I did like his writing style, and gave me a lot to think about. So for that reason, definitely worth a read, and Oprah and I finally agree on a novel.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Sold two million copies in the United States.

Translated into over 25 languages.

UP NEXT: The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald

886. A Fine Balance

A Fine Balance
Rohinton Mistry
1995
Around 605 pages

I fully intended to read the print version of this novel from my library, but it was missing from the shelves, although the catalog claimed that it was available. So I guess that book has gone to wherever misfiled library books go, those poor souls. And I was stuck reading the free online version. What a shame.

This book was selected for the Oprah Book Club, which is a dubious honor, and pretty much guarantees there is going to be a miserable novel with at least one graphic rape scene. This is a relentlessly depressing novel that features four main characters that go through it, against the backdrop of India's State of Emergency, which at least was interesting to learn about.

An early sexual assault scene really lost me. I get that he was showing how commonplace rape was, and how there were no resources or safety for women, but it felt entirely glossed over and put a bad taste in my mouth. If the point of this novel is that you have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair, well, where was the hope? 

We have a lot of emotionally draining tomes on this List, but I find they are most effective when they show the joys of life as well. When you portray life as bleakly as Mistry does, death seems like the much better option.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Won the 1995 Giller Prize.

UP NEXT: The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

885. Love's Work

Love's Work
Gillian Rose
1995
Around 145 pages

It's 1995! Which is the year that yours truly came on the scene. So we will no longer be referring to any books on this List as "old." And we get to celebrate with an autobiography written while the author was dying from ovarian cancer. The List always knows how to party.

So this is a surprisingly short memoir about Gillian Rose's experience with cancer and background. The perspective of a dying person is going to be completely different. She didn't try to disguise her fear or the weight of what was happening.

It's emotional, well-written, and if you can go out writing a critically acclaimed autobiography, that's a pretty good way to go. 

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Rose held the chair of social and political thought at the University of Warwick until 1995. 

UP NEXT: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

884. The End of a Story

The End of a Story
Lydia Davis
1994
Around 230 pages

Well, that was delightful. I had not heard of Lydia Davis before this, but this was one of those novels where you are immediately charmed by the first page. Her minimalist style, no doubt honed by years as a short story writer, really made this largely plotless novel fascinating. 

Our unnamed narrator is a college literature professor and translator. She has a failed love affair with a man who is also perpetually trying to get published. The story was especially unusual, as it featured very little dialogue or major events. This technique annoys me in lesser hands, but Davis was such a direct and straightforward writer that it really didn't bother me. 

I just found out that Lydia Davis and Paul Auster were married, which is a ship I wholeheartedly support. Such a lonely and haunting tone, and didn't overstay its welcome for a moment. Highly recommended. 

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Davis has produced several new translations of French literary classics, including Swann's Way and Madame Bovary.

UP NEXT: Love's Work by Gillian Rose

883. Mr. Vertigo

Mr. Vertigo
Paul Auster
1994
Around 256 pages

I have fond memories of this book, as I first read it on the last day of high school. As you may have surmised, I did not have the easiest time there, so that was my Andy DuFresne climbing out of the sewer moment. I'm pretty sure I would love this book in any case though, because Auster is a genius.

This is the story of Walter Claireborne Rawley. Walt is a neglected orphan dwelling on the streets of St. Louis. Master Yehudi takes Walt to a house in the countryside to teach Walt how to fly. I feel like we have seen the "older mobster takes down on his luck kid under his wing" a thousand times in mafia stories, so this was a fun twist on that trope. And magic always makes things more fun.

This could have just been an entertaining tale about kid learning magic, but in true Auster style, he imbues his novel with social commentary. I loved watching Walt's worldview slowly change over time, as he experienced and grew from failure after failure.

It's going to be difficult picking my favorite Auster novel, I always have a great time with this guy.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Terry Gilliam announced plans to adapt this book in 2018. I take it it's not going well.

UP NEXT: The End of the Story by Lydia Davis

882. The Folding Star

The Folding Star
Alan Hollinghurst
1994

Around 435 pages

This novel reminded me of Call Me By Your Name, which I haven't actually read, but I've seen the movie. On the one hand, it's exciting to get a homosexual relationship prominently featured in story. On the other hand, it features a problematic age gap that doesn't really get addressed. Of course, this blog contains nothing but problematic relationships, so it's not shocking, just disappointing.

This is the story of Edward Manners, a gay Englishman who moves to a town in Flanders and teaches English to two students, Luc and Marcus. Edward is in love with Luc, but he is more in love with beauty than anything else, so we get this very Mann-ish idealization of the male form. 

I like Hollinghurst as a writer, so this was an enjoyable enough read. Something about his style makes me feel like he comes from an earlier age than the 90s, maybe because the story had Lolita-y vibes. Edward is an incredibly shallow character who I wanted to see get smacked down Humbert Humbert style, but I was let down on that front. 

Solid, lyrical writing but I wish he had handled themes better.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

UP NEXT: Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster

881. Whatever

Whatever
Michel Houellebecq
1994

Around 160 pages

I just read an article that explored how "nasty" writers are perceived differently depending on their gender. One of the names mentioned was Michel Houellebecq and, lo and behold, he's our next bachelor on the List. 

A depressed and isolated computer programmer tries to convince a colleague to murder a young woman who rejected the colleague's sexual advances, although the colleague is more interested in killing the black guy she's with than the woman.

How many literary crimes against humanity have been committed in the name of satire? We get the prototypical incel character, depicted as a consequence of sexual liberation creating a sexual underclass. And as punishment, we have to read a novel by and about a woman-hating sicko.

An ugly book and not worth talking about really.

 

RATING: *----

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into film in 1999.

UP NEXT: The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst

880. Land

Land
Kyung-Ni Pak
1969-94
Around 650 pages

Man, being able to speak Korean would sure be a leg up on this race. So far, only 53 chapters of this 20 volume story have been translated into English. So that's the version I read, courtesy of the Digital Korean Library. 

Well, there are over 600 characters in this thing, so giving a plot summary is difficult. The first part follows the fall of the Choi family in 1894. The translation seemed a little off. There seemed to be a lot of modern slang or phrases, such as the word "tits," used that didn't seem to fit how people would actually communicate in the late 19th century in South Korea, not that I am an expert in the etymology of "tits."

This is just one of those novels that has a lot going against it in terms of enjoyability. This novel is quite literally lost in translation, as it is incomplete. And it's such a massive and sprawling work that it feels much more like a homework assignment than anything else.

So not faulting this epic in any way, but obviously not one of the more fun entries.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into a movie, television series, and opera.

UP NEXT: Whatever by Michel Houellebecq

879. The Master of Petersburg

The Master of Petersburg
J.M. Coetzee
1994
Around 260 pages

I had a sense of deja vu as I started this novel, and then I realized that I was thinking about Summer in Baden-Baden. Authors love to obsess over Dostoyevsky. But it's kind of a weird choice when they delineate from the authors' real life so much. If you're going to change so much, why can't they be original characters? 

The novel begins with Dostoyevsky arriving in Saint Petersburg to collect the belongings of his recently deceased stepson Pavel. Pavel actually outlived Dostoyevsky, but Coetzee's son died young, so he's pulling from his own life there. Dostoyevsky investigates his stepson's death and has an affair with stepson's mistress, which totally seems like something he would do.

I appreciate that Coetzee always keeps it short and keeps everything moving, but this was an odd one. Coetzee has 10 entries on this List, which is a hefty percentage. If I were to cut that number in half, this would be in the unnecessary half. I do like that he tried a more Kafkaesque approach with this story but it was still a pretty strange form of fanfiction. 

Over a hundred years after his death, Dostoyevsky is still popping on this List. That's stage presence my friends.

 
RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Won the 1995 Irish Times International Fiction Prize.

UP NEXT: Land by Kyŏng-ni Park

878. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami
1994-95
Around 610 pages

I once went out with a guy who expressed disdain for white women who like Murakami, and therefore that makes them worldly or alternative. So I guess appreciating Murakami is mainstream, and you should dislike him to prove you're not racist. Naturally, there wasn't a second date so I didn't have time to repulse him with my adoration of other quality writers. Anyway, I liked this a lot, sorry Guy-Whose-Name-I-Can't-Remember.

Well, if you're a basic bitch like me and have read Murakami before, you know that his plots begin someplace strange and end up someplace even stranger, and it's difficult to explain what goes on in between. We start in a Tokyo suburb with a young man named Toru Okada, who is searching for his wife's missing cat. Okada encounters a bizarre group of characters in his search, including a psychic prostitute,  a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl, and a war veteran who has been permanently changed by the  Japan's campaign in Manchuria.

I'm not entirely sure why I can love a strange story like this, but absolutely detest Pynchon's works, which is sort of similar in terms of weirdness and plot. I guess it comes down to style. I think Murakami is a great storyteller. His books are so accessible to foreigners like me, and yet, provide such a wholly Japanese experience. Like all my favorite authors, he masterfully blends comedy and philosophy into an easily digestible story.

And this isn't even my favorite Murakami! Welcome to the blog my friend.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2011.

Won the Yomiuri Literary Award.

UP NEXT: The Master of Petersburg by J.M. Coetzee

877. Pereira Declares: A Testimony

Pereira Declares: A Testimony
Antonio Tabucchi
1994
Around 210 pages

We are bopping all over the place in 1994. I wonder how long we can go out without an English guy. If we get past three entries, it might be a record.

Our story follows Pereira, a journalist for the culture column of a small Lisbon newspaper, as he struggles with the dictatorial regime of Antonio Salazar. Tabucchi is Italian but fell in love with Portugal, which is completely understandable. I'm also not faithful to my homeland, and in another life I'm sure I was a little British schoolboy at Eton.

So I don't have a huge opinion on this one. I don't really know much about Portuguese history, and once again, the author took for granted that I knew more than I did, which is really quite flattering. I do love characters who devote their lives to literature, and I thought he handled the ending well. It was even optimistic, which is rare in these parts.

But I found the writing style to be a little stale, and I like more dialogue in my novels. So another entry that didn't offend me with its quality, but didn't knock my mismatched socks off either. 

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 1996.

Salazar Slytherin was named after Antonio Salazar. Well, that's interesting to me at least.

UP NEXT: The Wind-Up Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

876. City Sister Silver

City Sister Silver
Jachym Topol
1994
Around 515 pages

Ugh, I'm so sick of that cover. I'm usually a fast reader, which you might have picked up on, but this was an absolute slog to get through, and this sat next to my bed for a long time. This is another work that is just hard to get into if you are not part of the culture. Although it seemed like it was pretty much the Czech A Clockwork Orange, and I didn't like that either, so maybe it was always a lost cause. 

It's hard to summarize this book. Basically, it's the rise and fall of a young man in Czechoslovakia in the years following the fall of communism. I really hate hallucinogenic or dream sequences in novels, which is one of the many reasons this narrative rubbed me the wrong way. 

Another "I guess you had to be there" novel, I didn't really get much out of the setting or historical context. Hopefully, something good will pull us out of this soon, 1994 has been rough!

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Because of his father's dissident activities, Topol was not allowed to go to university. 

UP NEXT: Pereira Declares: A Testimony by Antonio Tabucchi

875. How Late It Was, How Late

How Late It Was, How Late
James Kelman
1994
Around 390 pages

Another James Kelman novel, another story written entirely in Scottish dialect that is extremely hard to digest for outsiders. I don't think that's a bad thing in itself. Not every book has to be for everybody, and I'm sure it's exciting for Scottish people who so rarely see their slang or culture on page. Unfortunately, I am not Scottish, which is a bummer as I would love to live in a country where the national animal is a unicorn. Anyway, this was pretty inscrutable to me.

Basically, Sammy is brutally beaten by the police, and must come to terms with the permanent damage done to his body. I don't think a glossary would be entirely out of place here, although his favorite word is "fuck" and that's universal.

This novel won the 1994 Booker Prize, which made Kelman the first Scottish author to win. One judge described the Booker decision as a "disgrace" and said: "I'm really unhappy. Kelman is deeply inaccessible for a lot of people. I am implacably opposed to the book. I feel outmaneuvered." Well, at least she took it like a champ. I get both sides of the argument, it is inaccessible, but a book shouldn't have to be in the perfect King's English and written by an Oxford grad to be worthy of a prize.

So a book that is not for me, but never claimed to be. Not mad about it, but happy to move on!

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Among the critics of the novel were Kingsley Amis, world renowned buzzkill.

UP NEXT: City Sister Silver by Jachym Topol

874. Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Louis de Bernieres
1994
Around 545 pages

After a string of middling novels, I am happy to run into the arms of arguably the most romantic novel on this List. I can't bring myself to watch the movie version, and I can't say the experience would have been as enjoyable if I had been picturing Nicolas Cage as our titular character.

In the 1940s, Dr. Iannis practices medicine on the island of Cephalonia, aided by his daughter, Pelagia. When the Italians invade, the officer in command of the Italian garrison is Captain Antonio Corelli, whose most precious possession is his mandolin.  Corelli and Pelagia become involved in a passionate affair, even though she is engaged to a young fisherman, Mandras, who has gone off to join Greek partisans.

This is a lyrical and beautifully written novel. I can see why some people might find it overly sentimental, and de Bernieres paints a very romanticized, outsider portrait of Greece, but I think it worked. All great romances are over the top. Our central metaphor of the mandolin was implemented so well; it's a masterclass in how to use an object in your story to convey theme. 

Great historical backdrop as well. I feel like we hardly ever spend time in this region during this time, which is odd considering how many lives were lost there. A perfect read for when you are in the romantic and non-cynical mood.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into the film 2001.

UP NEXT: How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman

873. Felicia's Journey

Felicia's Journey
William Trevor
1994
Around 240 pages

Well, that was unexpected. Honestly, I thought this was going to be a sort of Irish Sister Carrie...and it was not. So points for surprising me Trevor! But considering most of the tension of the story came from if this serial killer was going to attack a vulnerable woman, I found it to be an unpleasant read.

Felicia takes the ferry to England searching for the father of her unborn baby. He said he would be working in a lawnmower factory in the Midlands, but reading between the lines, it's more likely that he has joined the British army, which is just about the worst thing you can do in the eyes of Felicia's family. She ends up on the streets having run out of money, where she is "helped" by Joseph Hilditch, who offers her lodging and access to an abortion.

Trevor does a great job keeping things ambiguous and slowly building tension. It was not a novel that I wanted to exist in and I'm not sure what to make of the ending, although I can't air all my gripes without giving away some heavy spoilers. 

Apparently the Listmakers weren't satisfied enough from The Collector, so we needed another book about a man who terrorizes women. Pass.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into film in 1999.

Won the Whitbread Prize and The Sunday Express Book of the Year in 1994.

UP NEXT: Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

872. Disappearance

Disappearance
David Dabydeen
1993
Around 180 pages

Our first Guyanese novel, if you are keeping track on your home atlas. I like these entries from underrepresented countries, because even if you don't click with the story, at least you walk away from it having experienced a new culture or walk of life. 

This is a novel about a Guyana engineer who travels to the Kent coastline to undertake the work of helping to shore up the crumbling Dunsmere cliff, and thus save houses that are near the cliff. While in Dunsmere, the engineer stays with an old English woman, Mrs. Rutherford.

So a deliberately slow novel where not a lot happens. The focus is more on the characters, who I didn't find particularly compelling. There didn't seem to much depth to Mrs. Rutherford. I think the themes would have seem a little less ham fisted here if more had happened, or if the characters were faced with more choices.

I don't really have strong opinions on this one, which is maybe more of a condemnation than anything else.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Dabydeen is one of the longest serving diplomats in the history of Guyana, with most of his work done in a voluntary unpaid capacity.

UP NEXT: Deep River by Shusaku Endo

871. The Invention of Curried Sausage

The Invention of Curried Sausage
Uwe Timm
1993
Around 220 pages

I love a good theme, and it just seems wrong to not experience this book with a plate of curried sausage and a mug of German beer. But I'm a vegetarian, and I hate the taste of beer, so that's another fun idea that I've booed out of the room. Invite me to your parties please.

And speaking of parties we don't want to go to, we basically start our story on the day of Hitler's wedding to Eva Braun. The novel contains a frame narrative, which is that our narrator asks Lena, the inventor of curried sausage, how she invented it, and she starts her story on April 29, 1945. So this is the story of how the sausage gets made...sorry, I couldn't resist.

There have been a lot of World War I/II novels lately. It's strange how our cultures process these stationary events in cycles. The frame of this story is very effective, as our unnamed journalist is obsessed with finding this recipe he had when he was a kid. I think we all have that dish that can take us back to our childhood, for better or for worse, and that longing to go back is universal. 

I didn't really enjoy the turns this story takes, although it was an interesting to look at the immediate aftermath of the ceasefire, and to start your story someplace where others usually end it. But otherwise tasted pretty bland.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2008.

UP NEXT: Disappearance by David Dabydeen

870. The Shipping News

The Shipping News
E. Annie Proulx
1993
Around 340 pages

Well, you wouldn't think that a novel about shipping news would be interesting. And you would be correct in that assumption. Honestly, there's only a handful of novels on the Pulitzer Prize list that I actually enjoyed. It's a pretty stuffy bunch.

Quoyle is a newspaper reporter who writes about traffic accidents and shipping news. His abusive and unfaithful ex was killed in a car accident with her lover, after attempting to sell their daughters to sex traffickers. Needless to say, Quoyle is a very hard done by character. He is encouraged by his aunt to start a new life in Newfoundland, where he learns more about his ancestors.

This is just one of those books that I felt I had to wade through, which was disappointing after a promising beginning. The weird names and heavy sentences made me feel like the author was trying too hard and there wasn't a lot of natural rhythm to her prose. The story just reminded me of better authors like John Updike or Margaret Atwood.

But of course, I'm too hard on the lass, she tied the novel together with a cool theme and we've certainly read more pretentious and insufferable authors. 

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2001.

UP NEXT: The Invention of Curried Sausage by Uwe Timm

869. Trainspotting

Trainspotting
Irvine Welsh
1993
Around 345 pages

Well, if Complicity didn't make you throw up, try giving this novel a go! I had seen the movie already, which, strangely, only strengthened my crush on Ewan McGregor. I can't say I enjoyed this, but it was very effective in upsetting me, which I guess was the point.

The novel is comprised of short stories that follow a group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh in the late 80s. The characters and events feel very True. The life of a heroin addict is just completely different than people who aren't addicted, with different rules, culture, cycles, and, um, bodily issues. If you read this, or watched movie, you know about that one unforgettable upsetting scene. Actually, make that two unforgettable upsetting scenes.

This is the best novel on the List so far to deal with drug addiction, and I don't see it getting dethroned before the List is over. It is raw and real. God knows it doesn't glamorize drug use, but it also isn't one of those overly moral and melodramatic works either. We just watch these doomed individuals live lives that have been entirely corrupted by heroin. It's a horror show, the gross kind of horror a la Saw movies.

I actually read this in Scotland, which was the perfect choice as this is an immersive novel that you couldn't imagine taking place anywhere else. Thankfully, I didn't see that side of Edinburgh. 

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

A sequel was published in 2002.

Adapted into a musical in 2021.

UP NEXT: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

868. Birdsong

Birdsong
Sebastian Faulks
1993
Around 410 pages

Well Peter Ackroyd appears to have rubbed off on somebody! Here we have another historical plot that switches between two characters from different eras. Usually, there is one storyline that is significantly less interesting than the other one. In this case, I was much more into the World War I arc than our 1970s plot. 

In World War I, Englishman Stephen Wraysford fights in the trenches and has an affair with a French woman. In the 70s, Stephen's granddaughter Elizabeth finds his encoded journals and tries to decipher them, which adds an intriguing metahistorical element to the narrative. 

I'm not sure if it's List fatigue, but I just wasn't as into the story as I have been to similar novels like The English Patient. The tragedy of Stephen and Isabelle's romance was a bit over the top, but that's easier to swallow when you really take to the characters, which I didn't. It was intriguing to focus on the trauma of World War I, which is often overlooked.

This is one of those novels where you can immediately tell the female characters were written by men. They don't exactly behave like real people. Overrated, and if you are in the mood for a historical romance or melodrama I can think of much better works that could satisfy that itch.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted for radio, stage, and television.

Listed as the 13th favorite book in Britain in a 2003 BBC survey called the Big Read.

UP NEXT: Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

867. Looking for a Possible Dance

Looking for a Possible Dance
A.L. Kennedy
1993
Around 260 pages

I always hope when the List includes a novel that doesn't even have a Wikipedia page, it will turn out to be a hidden gem, and I can be filled with righteous indignation that the world doesn't appreciate such a masterpiece. Of course, most of the time, the obscurity ends up being quite understandable after you go through the trouble of tracking it down. 

The novel follows Margaret, a Scottish woman who loses her father, and Colin, her lover. We mostly plod along with boring dialogue and over the top romantic scenes, then there's this surprising bit of violence. I guess the whole book is set up so we don't see that last part coming, but then it makes the entire novel feel disjointed.

It was nice getting a Scottish novel on this List that felt very authentically Scottish, yet still was accessible to outsiders in its dialect (unlike, say, James Kelman). But mostly forgettable story, dialogue, and characters. Next!

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Kennedy has performed as a stand-up comedian at the Edinburgh Fringe and literary festivals.

UP NEXT: Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

866. Operation Shylock

Operation Shylock
Philip Roth
1993
Around 400 pages

I can tolerate Philip Roth, but I think his representation on the List could be cut in half, and this entry belongs in the expendable half. I prefer a more grounded Roth, although at least nobody turned into a boob at the end.

Our main character is Philip Roth (I guess our narrator was a boob after all). He travels to Israel to attend the trial of an accused war criminal John Demjanjuk. Our Roth seeks out an impersonator who has stolen his identity and face. The impersonator aims to spread "Diasporism," a counter-Zionist ideology advocating the return of Jews to their European nations of exile.

One of Roth's favorite topics to tackle is identity, specifically the Jewish identity. I can think a few novels that have played with the doppelganger theme, but I can't think of one that I really enjoyed. It's always so trippy and full of misunderstandings that it gets on my nerves. 

I don't really have umbrage to take with the quality of writing in this novel, just wasn't my cup of tea when it came to story, although some of the real life historical elements made the experience more enjoyable. Five more Roths to go, but they do get better.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Received the 1993 PEN/Faulkner Award for best novel.

UP NEXT: Looking for the Possible Dance by A.L. Kennedy

865. Complicity

Complicity
Iain Banks
1993
Around 315 pages

Banks said in an interview that Complicity is "a bit like The Wasp Factory except without the happy ending and redeeming air of cheerfulness." Um, yeah, I'd say that is accurate. 

Cameron Colley is a journalist who once wrote an editorial that suggested certain right wing political figures were better candidates for hatred and abuse than foreign leaders or common criminals. Now a crazed murderer is checking the names Colley volunteered off his list. And the ways he kills are just extremely sadistic and gross. How does Banks have so many ideas for how to creatively murder somebody? 

I'm a slasher fan, and sometimes it feels like they've run out of any new ideas for unique villains. I don't want to spoil anything too much, but I will share one tidbit that the killer uses helium to disguise his voice. Even that small, terrifying attribute is so different, yet so obviously effective in scaring the living daylights out of me. I was audibly reacting to these scenes and Banks deftly kept me on the tenterhooks with his plotting. He's a master at slowly building tension, without any lulls in plot development.

Definitely not for the faint of heart, but if you are looking for something revolting of high quality, this is a good pick!

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2000.

Dedicated to Ellis Sharp.

UP NEXT: Operation Shylock by Philip Roth

864. On Love

On Love
Alain de Botton
1993
Around 195 pages

Alain de Botton wrote How Proust Can Change Your Life, so I knew immediately I was in good hands. I was instantly charmed by this novel, starting with the title. 

The novel is presented in a unique form. It's basically a case study of love between our narrator and a woman he meets on a plane, Chloe. The structure was reminiscent of Flaubert's Parrot, where each chapter basically focuses on an idea and how it relates to our novel's main subject; in this case, the relationship between Chloe and the narrator.

The novel is peppered with philosophical insights, and I had to keep pausing to digest his ideas. Is there a subject more worthy of further examination than the topic of the love? For the most part, especially in fiction, we don't question it so much. Two characters fall in love because, they just do, love is unpredictable. De Botton really dives into our own internal transformations when we fall in love, and how little it actually has to do with the object of that love.

Sometimes when I'm reading a book that it is, in my eyes at least, perfect, I get vaguely sad for some reason. But de Botton even helped me put a label on this feeling, as Chloe experiences similar symptoms during their holiday in Spain. The doctor diagnoses it as a form of an anhedonia, where you feel misery because you realize heaven is available on Earth. 

I just love those books where you keep thinking to yourself "that is what it's like!" Highly recommended!

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

In August 2014, de Botton was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.

UP NEXT: Complicity by Iain Banks

863. What a Carve Up!

What a Carve Up!
Jonathan Coe
1994
Around 505 pages

"Carve up" to me sounds like some old British phrase, like "that Millicent is such a card!" Such is my arrogance that I just assumed my definition was correct after picking this up from the library, and began to casually try to work it into conversation. When I sat down to read the novel, I realized my definition was..ahem...a bit off. 

Godfrey Winshaw is shot down by German anti-aircraft fire during a secret wartime mission over Berlin, in 1942. His sister Tabitha alleges that he was betrayed by their brother Lawrence, but no one believes her, and she is committed to a mental institution, because where else would we send women we disagree with? 19 years later, after a party to mark the 50th birthday of their other brother Mortimer, Lawrence is attacked in the night by an intruder. Michael Owen, is commissioned by Tabitha to write a history of the Winshaw family. Michael prefers to stay in his London flat watching videotapes of old films – in particular the 1961 British comedy What a Carve Up! "Carve up" meaning bloody series of murders...again, oops.

He really hit the ground running with this one. I was immediately hooked on the characters and the story. Coe is a fearless writer, unafraid to take risks with his storytelling, and I was genuinely shocked by the ending, even though it made perfect sense with the characters he built. I love the integration of horror and comedy. I was also moved by Michael's connection to the movie. I think we can all identify a work of art we experienced when we were children, that dictates how we view things in our adulthood. 

I would have never discovered this novel without the List, so all hail The Powers That Be! Sorry I complain about you so much, and will continue to do so.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted for radio and theater.

UP NEXT: On Love by Alain de Bottom

862. A Suitable Boy

A Suitable Boy
Vickram Seth
1993

Around 1350 pages

I started this book when I attended my partner's soccer game (non Americans would call it "not soccer.") As you may have gathered, I'm not the biggest sports fan, but if I can do my part to normalize reading at games, then I'd be proud of my legacy. And I only read when he wasn't on the field, so I still received my good girlfriend points. Thankfully, this was a great novel and I didn't have to worry about finishing it before the game ended, because it's a hefty mofo.

Predictably from its length, this is a long, panoramic story. Most of the story focuses on Mrs. Rupa Mehra's efforts to arrange the marriage of her younger daughter, Lata, to a "suitable boy." Lata is a headstrong 19-year-old university student forced to choose between her suitors Kabir, Haresh, and Amit. The novel is divided into 19 parts, and each part is described in rhyming couplet form on the table of contents page. Which is fun, and takes me back to the eighteenth century.

If a novel is going to be this long, I either want it to be a book with dragons, or a sweeping family saga. Actually this book stands out because the action of the novel takes place in about two years. Seth is a very thoughtful author who understood his characters and was able to humanize all of their actions, even the actions that would be traditionally labelled as villainous.

He didn't exactly sustain my interest for the full 1350 pages, but that's a heavy ask. 

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Christopher Hitchens, in Vanity Fair, gave the novel a glowing review, saying the prose "has a deceptive lightness and transparency to it."

UP NEXT: What a Carve Up By Jonathan Coe

861. The Stone Diaries

The Stone Diaries
Carol Shields
1993
Around 360 pages

The novels that follow the lives of ordinary people are a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's a nice change of pace to get stories that closer to real life. On the other hand, most ordinary people are boring and passive in their decision making. Which can make for a not so fun reading experience. Fortunately, Shields is such good writer, that I still enjoyed this even if Daisy Goodwill got on my nerves, starting with her name. 

We get the entire life story of Daisy, whose mother died in childbirth. She initially lives with her neighbor and the neighbor's adult son, then moves back in with her father after the neighbor dies. And she goes to have other relationships, of varying levels of success.

Much like real life, some chapters were more interesting than others. It's a testament to Shields' talent that she was able to take a novel about someone like Daisy and make it as entertaining as she did. I still prefer John Irving for life stories, as his milestones and events are a bit more colorful.

Haven't been too impressed with the novels since The Robber Bride. Let's shake things up, shall we?

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in the United States.

UP NEXT: A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

860. The Virgin Suicides

The Virgin Suicides
Jeffrey Eugenides
1993

Around 250 pages

Jeffrey Eugenides is the author of one of my favorite books (this isn't it), so I am quite happy to have him join our esteemed ranks.

The story is told from the perspective of an anonymous group of teenage boys, who knew five sisters in the 1970s who all killed themselves. So once again, we are fetishizing virgin young women, and once again, their story is being told by the perspective of men. 

This reminded me of the fairy tale "The 12 Dancing Princesses," where the princes are obsessed with what the 12 princesses are doing every night. As a society, we are so crazed about women and girls being pure, but at the same time, we would consider them boring and sexless if they had no secrets. So the best of both worlds is we get beautiful, angelic girls that we know are part of some dark conspiracy, but we never find out the details, so they don't tarnish our view of the girls. In this case, the boys want to understand why the Lisbon daughters committed suicide. Of course, if we got a satisfying and succinct answer to that question, the book would not at all be true to life. 

I'm not hating on Eugenides for writing the book this way. But he seems like he is trying to call attention to the expectations and uncertainties of being a young woman, but is also simultaneously contributing to the same ethos by mythologizing these female characters and not making them feel like real human beings. Again, it's not really the sisters' story, it's the story about how their deaths affected the neighborhood boys. Poor babies.

I sound like I hated this far more than I did. Actually, it gave me a lot to think about, which is always a good thing. I enjoyed the 70s setting, and Eugenides is a very readable author. But too melodramatic for my taste. And I know Eugenides can do better.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into a film in 2000, directed by Sofia Coppola.

The inspiration for the plot of the book came to Jeffrey Eugenides when his nephew's teenage babysitter told him that she and her sisters had planned to commit suicide. When he asked why, she only replied, "we were under a lot of pressure."

UP NEXT: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields